Hello All,

I have a client that utilizes autotext. They need to update them and distribute them to everybody in the office. However, each user has a slightly different normal.dot that they have set up, and if things change ever so slightly, they freak out. So copying the normal.dot of the host machine to each PC is out of the question.

Is there an easy way to copy all of the autotext contents and transfer it to a new template? Everything I've found online is confusing and I'm not sure explains how to do what I want to do.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Hi,

The easiest method to copy the autotext to a new template, is to keep using the old template on a new machine.

The autotext is stored in the Normal.dotm template for Word, if you need to use the same autotext in a new computer, just replace the Normal.dotm template with your old one, then all the autotext information is transferred.

Regards,

Melon Chen
TechNet Community Support

Copying the normal template to someone else's machine and overwriting their own is not recommended.

AutoText is stored in templates.

You can move the desired AutoText to a separate Global Template  which is then stored in each user's Startup Folder

In Word 2007-2013 copying AutoText is probably most easily done using Greg Maxey's Building Blocks Enhanced Tools (free download). Building Blocks & AutoText

The tooltips that show up and let you press Enter work differently in different versions.

Automated Boilerplate Using Microsoft Word

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I found this tool, but could not get it to load correctly. It always crashes my copy of Word (64-bit 2013).

On a test machine I installed Office 2010 (which is what my client uses) and I was able to load the tool without an issue. I'm definitely going to go this route, as it will save me a lot of time.

Note that the tooltip > Enter method of entering AutoText only works for AutoText stored in the normal template in Word 2010 (and not at all in Word 2007). In Word 2013 it works for any templates. Probably the superior method is memorable and unique entry names which can be inserted by typing 4 characters and pressing the F3 key. This works with AutoText in any template in any version of Word.

This is the first time I've heard of problems with the Enhanced Tools in Word 2013. It loads fine on my machine from the Startup Folder. I'm using the 32-bit version, though.

Note that the tooltip > Enter method of entering AutoText only works for AutoText stored in the normal template in Word 2010 (and not at all in Word 2007). In Word 2013 it works for any templates. Probably the superior method is memorable and unique entry names which can be inserted by typing 4 characters and pressing the F3 key. This works with AutoText in any template in any version of Word.

This is the first time I've heard of problems with the Enhanced Tools in Word 2013. It loads fine on my machine from the Startup Folder. I'm using the 32-bit version of Office, though.

Yeah, I'm running 64-bit, which is what I imagine the issue is with my Word 2013. But in the end it doesn't matter, because the client is running 2010 32-bit.

The documents are the same whether created in the 32-bit or 64-bit version. So a template created using the tools will work in either version even if the tools template won't work.

I notified Greg of the problem with the 64-bit version and he may fix it. I would say check the web page once a month or so to see. Many experienced Word users do not use the 64-bit version because of problems with Add-Ins (and there is nothing the 64-bit version of Word does any better than the 32-bit version). Some of the other Office programs have higher capacity in the 64-bit ve